Spartanburg officials refute methodology of crime ranking

Published: Wednesday, January 16, 2013 at 5:40 p.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, January 16, 2013 at 5:40 p.m.

Spartanburg city officials acknowledge that the numbers a website used to rank Spartanburg the 12th most dangerous city in the U.S. are correct, but question the site's methodology.

The Herald-Journal reported Saturday that Massachusetts-based NeighborhoodScout, a search engine for potential home buyers that includes crime statistics, school performance ratings and real estate appreciation rates, ranked Spartanburg among the most dangerous cities, surpassing Atlanta, Chicago and Philadelphia.

Andrew Schiller, founder and CEO, wrote in an email that the website used 2011 data on seven offenses — including murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault — provided to the FBI for its 2011 Uniform Crime Report from the Spartanburg Public Safety Department and the University of South Carolina Upstate Police Department.

Crimes were divided by city population statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau. That number was divided by 1,000 to establish a violent crime rate per 1,000 in population, Schiller wrote.

“In total, Spartanburg's rate of violent crime is 17.63 per 1,000 residents, which is 450 percent higher than the national rate of 3.9 violent crimes per 1,000,” Schiller wrote. “When compared with all other cities in America of 25,000 or more residents, Spartanburg ranks as the 12th highest for violent crime rate in our nation.”

Law enforcement agencies voluntarily provide data to the FBI. The agency notes on its website that it “relies on the good faith reporting of its contributing law enforcement agencies” and that “the accuracy of the statistics depends primarily on the adherence of each contributor to the established standards of reporting. It is the responsibility of each state UCR Program or individual contributing law enforcement agency to submit accurate monthly statistics or correct existing data that are in error.”

Story said city officials initially based assumptions that NeighborhoodScout had erred in its calculations based on illustrations of Spartanburg on the site.

“Their calculations are accurate. It's their methodology that we find misleading,” Story said.

He said the website does not use data to correct for certain factors.

Spartanburg occupies a relatively small land area and residential population, but the population fluctuates with workers and visitors, Story said.

He wrote in an email that NeighborhoodScout chose the residential population as its denominator, which “is not the most relevant figure in (Spartanburg's) case.”

Commuters into the city outnumber city residents who commute out of the city by about 17,000 workers.

“Ours is by no means the highest such percentage, but these figures do help illustrate that residential population is not the best available measure of the volume of human activity (and therefore the potential for criminal activity) within a particular land area,” Story wrote.

In an e-mail to Story, Schiller refutes this argument. “You must realize that this is equally true for most county seats and economic centers throughout the nation. Think of New York City. Each day, millions of people pour into New York City for work, and leave in the evening. Yet, New York City did not make our list of the top 100 most dangerous cities.”

<p>Spartanburg city officials acknowledge that the numbers a website used to rank Spartanburg the 12th most dangerous city in the U.S. are correct, but question the site's methodology.</p><p>The Herald-Journal reported Saturday that Massachusetts-based NeighborhoodScout, a search engine for potential home buyers that includes crime statistics, school performance ratings and real estate appreciation rates, ranked Spartanburg among the most dangerous cities, surpassing Atlanta, Chicago and Philadelphia.</p><p>Andrew Schiller, founder and CEO, wrote in an email that the website used 2011 data on seven offenses — including murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault — provided to the FBI for its 2011 Uniform Crime Report from the Spartanburg Public Safety Department and the University of South Carolina Upstate Police Department.</p><p>Crimes were divided by city population statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau. That number was divided by 1,000 to establish a violent crime rate per 1,000 in population, Schiller wrote.</p><p>“In total, Spartanburg's rate of violent crime is 17.63 per 1,000 residents, which is 450 percent higher than the national rate of 3.9 violent crimes per 1,000,” Schiller wrote. “When compared with all other cities in America of 25,000 or more residents, Spartanburg ranks as the 12th highest for violent crime rate in our nation.”</p><p>Law enforcement agencies voluntarily provide data to the FBI. The agency notes on its website that it “relies on the good faith reporting of its contributing law enforcement agencies” and that “the accuracy of the statistics depends primarily on the adherence of each contributor to the established standards of reporting. It is the responsibility of each state UCR Program or individual contributing law enforcement agency to submit accurate monthly statistics or correct existing data that are in error.”</p><p>Assistant City Manager Chris Story said </p><p>NeighborhoodScout's numbers are correct. Those numbers include 5 murders, 13 rapes, 127 robberies and 513 assaults.</p><p>Story said city officials initially based assumptions that NeighborhoodScout had erred in its calculations based on illustrations of Spartanburg on the site.</p><p>“Their calculations are accurate. It's their methodology that we find misleading,” Story said.</p><p>He said the website does not use data to correct for certain factors.</p><p>Spartanburg occupies a relatively small land area and residential population, but the population fluctuates with workers and visitors, Story said.</p><p>He wrote in an email that NeighborhoodScout chose the residential population as its denominator, which “is not the most relevant figure in (Spartanburg's) case.”</p><p>Commuters into the city outnumber city residents who commute out of the city by about 17,000 workers.</p><p>“Ours is by no means the highest such percentage, but these figures do help illustrate that residential population is not the best available measure of the volume of human activity (and therefore the potential for criminal activity) within a particular land area,” Story wrote.</p><p>In an e-mail to Story, Schiller refutes this argument. “You must realize that this is equally true for most county seats and economic centers throughout the nation. Think of New York City. Each day, millions of people pour into New York City for work, and leave in the evening. Yet, New York City did not make our list of the top 100 most dangerous cities.”</p>